Deane's 2009 Motorcycle Trip
South Africa
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Deane's 2009 Motorcycle Trip South Africa |
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Nov 18, Port Alfred to Knysna Day 12 - 430 Km (266) Miles |
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This day's riding was again one of getting to the next very interesting town, Kynsna, with a nice waterfront area with good restaurants, and many tourist shops and so forth. The riding was one of getting from the inland areas to seashore, and involved riding in very mountainous areas. I had no real idea of the landscape in South Africa, and neither did our other riders. It is very mountainous in many places, with roads snaking around the sides of the mountains. Our riding was again in areas of tree farms and overall we had a good ride. Now that the problem is cleared up, I have to tell you about the day where I had “Double Vision” and had to put the bike into the van. That was Nov 15. Here’s what happened. That morning I started out as usual, and everything was going fine. However, in the afternoon I started to have small bits of double vision, and it progressed to my seeing the cars coming toward me as double images. Obviously that is not good and is especially bad on a motorcycle. So I stopped and called the tour leader, Darryl, on the cell phone he had given me, and he returned. Also, the chase van was coming up from the rear, with Jonathon, Darryl’s son, driving. The three of us decided it wasn’t safe to ride, so we put the motorcycle in the van, and I rode in the van to our destination of the day, Coffee Bay. Fortunately,
the next day was a “rest day” in Coffee Bay, and I did rest – with naps and
reading. The next day we continued with the riding, but with me and the motorcycle in the van. Our target was to get to a doctor and get me checked out. And we did do that. We drove to Port Elizabeth, a large city on our way for that day. First I saw a general Practioner, and then an eye specialist. By this point I was again seeing normal, and both doctors felt I was fine. They couldn’t say specifically what had started it, but maybe just being very tired, or some imbalance in my sugars, etc. For myself, I think I just got very tired, and that caused it. In the process, both doctors thought I was ‘fit”, in excellent overall health, and could carry on as normal. The eye specialist said “You’re fine – get out there and enjoy your holiday”! So, I did
ride yesterday, Nov. 17th. - No problems at all, normal vision returned
and didn't present a problem at all. Anyway, I am
doing fine, with no more double vision.
Today, (Nov 18th) is another rest day, so that is good.
I think I’m fine, but with the agreement with Darryl our tour leader, and
others on the tour, if I have any double vision at all, we’ll put the
bike in the van again. Just a
little humor here; the first doctor I saw was a motorcyclist also, so
before we could get to the medical problems, we had to talk motorcycles! (He rides a Kawasaki Concourse 1400.) The second doctor had lived
in the US Southwest, and was familiar with Albuquerque and other cities in
the Southwest. Small world. Anyway, things are going fine. |
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